You might remember the announcment for Lost Analog by Barry Schrader posted back in September. Not mentioned was some of the unique history and significance of this particular release featuring the Buchla 200 in the liner notes, including possibly the first quadraphonic electronic music score for a commercial film.
The liner notes for the release follow:
I’ve chosen to call this album Lost Analog not only with reference to my previous release, Lost Atlantis, but also because all of the works are analog electronic music, and parts of them are, indeed, lost. All of this music was created from 1972 through 1983, using the Buchla 200 analog modular synthesizer, also known as “The Electronic Music Box.” The music contained in this Lost Analog album was originally created in 4 channels, sometimes referred to as quadraphonic sound. In mixing and remastering these pieces as stereo files, some of the original aural intent has unavoidably been lost, another reason for calling this release Lost Analog. As I write this, realizing that some of this music hasn’t been heard in public for almost fifty years, I’m taken back to much earlier days in my life and career, which, although remembered, are also lost, as are all of our pasts.
Death of the Red Planet Suite” (1973) is made from parts of a score for the film “Death of the Red Planet." The 20-minute film was the first to be created from images made with lasers, and it toured theatres along with “Yessongs,” a concert film of the band Yes. It is, I think, the first quadraphonic electronic music score for a commercial film. This suite of the music from the score is all that I have of the original soundtrack. Whether or not the film still exists in its original theatrical format, I have no idea. More information on this film may be found here.
“Bestiary" (1972-74) is a five-movement work drawing on mythological creatures from medieval bestiaries, treatises about real and fictitious animals. Originally, I had planned seven movements, but ended up composing only five. The first and last movements are imaginings of mythological beasts convening and dispersing (the latter in an increasingly disorderly way), while the interior three sections focus, respectively, on sea serpents, a unicorn, and basilisks, the latter being venomous winged reptiles that supposedly lived in caves or deep wells. “Bestiary” is the first work of mine to fully incorporate what has become one of my main compositional concerns: the creation of new and transformational timbres.
After composing “Lost Atlantis”, I wanted to do something very different, and so I wrote "Classical Studies" (1977). These three short pieces use abstractions of old musical forms: canon, chorale, and perpetuum mobile. The timbres are almost always changing with each successive event in these works, very quickly so in “Perpetuum Mobile."
The”Moon-Whales Suite” presents three sections of a larger work, “Moon-Whales and Other Moon Songs" (1982-83). This is a seven-movement work for soprano and electronics. The even-numbered movements are for soprano accompanied by electronics, and the odd-numbered movements are for soprano solo followed by an electronic music section without voice. The three movements presented here, are the 2nd, 4th, and 6th sections of the work, without the soprano introductions. The work is based on poems by Ted Hughes, the British Poet Laureate from 1984 to 1998, taken from his collection “Moon-Whales and Other Moon Poems." The three poems referenced are also the titles of the pieces in this suite: “The Moon-Oak,” “The Moon-Bull,” and "Moon-Wings". Reading the poems will help to uncover the inspirations and ideas behind these works, but I think they also stand on their own as musical compositions. While the master tapes for the electronics of these pieces still exist, they are unplayable due to tape deterioration, yet another reason for this album to be called “Lost Analog."
Barry Schrader has announced the release of a new album, “Lost Analog.” This is a collection of previously unreleased works Schrader composed between 1972 and 1983 on the Buchla 200 synthesizer, aka The Electric Music Box. This album of definitive works of West Coast electronic music serves as a companion collection to Schrader’s famous “Lost Atlantis” release, widely regarded as a benchmark for classical electronic music works. The “Lost Analog” album contains music from the film “Death of the Red Planet”, the complete versions of “Bestiary” and “Classical Studies”, and an electronic suite of three movements from “Moon-Whales and Other Moon-Songs.”
The release date for “Lost Analog” is Friday, October 28, 2022. The limited-edition CD and the digital tracks will be sold on Bandcamp, and the tracks will also be sold on all major online music stores. Until then, you can hear previews of the tracks at https://barryschrader.hearnow.com/.
“…the music outsynthesized Tangerine Dream in its hypnotic electronic coloration.” - New York Times review of “Death of the Red Planet"
“Schrader's music has fascinatingly subtle shifts of color and volume. The listener could wrap himself in a development of metallic sounds seamlessly transformed from speaker to speaker, a delicate but penetrating pulsation of notes woven with a music-box effect, or a melange of dizzying, sliding, wind rushing patterns that make the revving-up of a jet plane seem demure.” - Los Angeles Times review of “Bestiary"
Those interested in getting the CD or digital download should sign up on Barry Schrader’s “Follow” mailing list on Bandcamp before October 28 in order to get special offers when the album is released.
"The Yamaha DX100 owners manual contains a very interesting chart of its 'carefully chosen' frequency ratios, although there is barely any discussion about them at all or what they actually are or relate to..
These mysterious ratios also appear in the other 4, 6 & 8 operator Yamaha FM synthesizers/chips, such as the DX7, DX21, TX81Z, FB-01, DX11, FS1R, DEXED, you name it.. so the information here is relevant for any FM synthesizer capable of producing these ratios.
With a little deciphering using a tiny Python program it turns out this mysterious chart contains 4 groups of inharmonic ratios : √2, √3, π/4 and π. Included in this repo are =>
- spreadsheet in Open Office & PDF format deciphering and organising these ratios into a more coherent layout, plus an Addendum of complete tables computed up to 30x multiplication
- Python program to produce the Addendum tables. Edit & rerun this code to generate output for higher ratios, for example alter the multiplier variable to print out higher ratios for use with 6 & 8 operator synths.
- excerpt from the original DX100 owners manual showing these ratios obtained from here =>
Yamaha have been quite cunning, as you will see from the tables I've made decoding this mysterious chart. The inclusion of these 4 inharmonic ratio groups has been done in such a way that they contain exact multiples of themselves. This is incredibly useful when programming an FM sound using just sine waves, and as Yamaha hint they "produce extremely complex waveforms" for things like "sound effects including extremely realistic bells, explosions, etc."
Here is a simple example I tried poking around on my DX7ii:
Consider creating a sound containing inharmonic timbres, where you would like to have a complex wave modulating a simple sine wave carrier tracking the keyboard normally. This could easily be achieved with a 3 operator sine stack 3>2>1. For the carrier [operator 1] you could choose a ratio of 1.0. Then you could setup operator 2 at √2 = 1.41 creating an inharmonic ratio, and modulate it with operator 3 using √2 but at x 2 = 2.82. This would give you a 2:1 ratio for operators 3 & 2 respectively and create a nice complex modulating wave with minimal to no beating. You could further adjust either or both operator 2 & 3 ratios using √2 as the inharmonic ratio to keep it whole number [integer] based.. or move across to another inharmonic set for one or both and explore futher from there.
how to keep me going ==>
if u find this repo useful please think about supporting my work either thru my bandcamp page:
https://noyzelab.bandcamp.com/ or send a Paypal donation or otherwise get in touch via noyzelab [at] gmail [dot] com
thanks, dave"
Update: this reminded me of an interview I did with Barry Schrader in which he discusses his deep dive into FM synthesis after working with vintage Buchla systems. Scroll down to Triptych for an example and/or search for Yamaha for more.
Update as of 9:26 PDT: I made a couple of minor updates in case you read it before then. Sorry!
A quick note on posts like this: I hope you enjoy them. If not, just skip them. When I first started the site I used to share my synth dreams but stopped. Personally I get a kick out of them. I won't share every one, just some of the stand outs. The last one stood out for the humor, this one stood out for the design of the instrument. It reminds me of different makers and their approach. As a maker, do you set out to design a synthesizer, an instrument, or both? Are you locked in by the tools, components, and paradigms of what makes a synth? In my dream both the musician and the maker (who never made an appearance BTW) didn't really know what a synth even was. The maker just designed an instrument and the musician just played it. This reminds me of Don Buchla's original designs and specifically the Buchla Music Easel. This was at the birth of synthesis as we know it. What's interesting is his designs weren't meant to be what they are commonly perceived as today. They were meant to be unique instruments, palettes for sound, hence the Music Easel. I heard even his modular systems weren't meant to be complete fixed instruments, they weren't meant to be mixed and matched. Think about that for a bit. They were modular in design, but they weren't meant to be modular in nature. They were meant to be wholly formed instruments. In the following dream the musician reminded me of Marc-Henri and Barry Schrader to an extent. Marc-Henri almost exclusively uses an Access Virus Ti as a music easel for his compositions. Barry Schrader started with Buchla and then moved to FM synthesis for his compositions. You can find an extensive interview with him here.
And the dream...
I had another synth dream last night. In this one I was at an ensemble event held in kind of a classroom/workshop/gym-type of open space at what felt like an old English or New England boarding school - lots of wood, flat tall ceilings, and windows along the length of the far wall. The ensemble consisted of maybe 18 people in a semi-circle with a small audience in front of them, mainly standing, which I was one of. The instructor had each member of the ensemble introduce their instruments. I was in front towards the left of the ensemble and noticed the last two instruments to be electronic desktop boxes sitting on a card table (synth gathering anywone?), both vintage and almost DIY looking in style. I remember thinking, "I know what these boxes are. They are synths! I can't wait to talk shop with the owners and check them out." Well the instructor starts going around the ensemble starting on the opposite side. Each member introduces their instrument and talks a little bit about them and their technique. There were some interesting brass-like instruments. I think there was one based on an alto trombone, but it was just a flat pipe and no horn at the end. Funny side note is my daughter is currently learning to play piccolo. She plays flute in high school band and decided to finally give the piccolo a try as a stretch goal. If you don't know what a piccolo is, it's a tiny flute for super high notes. She said there were tiny versions of most instruments including the trombone. I looked one up and sure enough there is. A tiny trombone not much longer than a foot exists. The instrument in my dream also bore a resemblance to the ribbon controller featured in the Nunomo QUN post, so I'm guessing that's where it came from - some bizarre mix of the two. Anyway, when the instructor/host got around to the last two instruments, it turned out the first was a theremin based synth minus the antennas. It was made of wood and looked vintage. It would have been interesting if not for the next box. That was something. It was black with white and silver sliders, levers, buttons, and knobs. It was a unique instrument custom made for the owner who knew the maker. The interesting thing was the musician wasn't familiar with synths and didn't even see the instrument as a synth. The maker also wasn't into synths. In the dream he was more like a luthier, more of an artist instrument maker than a synth maker. No offense to synth makers! :) Anyway, it was about the size of an EMS SYNTHI and was black with white levers and sliders and had a bunch of esoteric control blocks with non standard names/labels; similar to something like the Hartmann Neuron where controls are familiar but the names are completely different. For some reason it reminded me of a black Lassence uVentury, Modor NF-1, mixed with some MacBeth and Folktek in design, but again completely different. Again, this maker wasn't into synths. This was a unique instrument. After the talk was over the musician gave a little demo. The sound of it. It was like formant analog but the timbers coming out of it were rich and full, not thin or glossy like most formant synthesis. It sounded like nothing I've ever heard before. After the talks were over I walked over to it to check out the controls and design. I wondered if I could touch it and play with it a little and for some reason, as happens in dreams, I knew it was OK so I started playing with it. There was a thin ivory white reed-like lever about an inch and a half long that controlled a female formant timbre. It was amazing. There was an group of lever-type sliders that controlled a multi band formant filter block and I remember thinking, "Oh this is a filter!" There were envelop sliders and other familiar groups that I now forget, but there were a bunch of interesting controls on it that didn't quite match up to common synths. There were additional effects and shaping tools built into the design and everything just flowed like a natural instrument. Again it kind of reminded me in concept to a Hartman Neuron and Modor NF-1, with maybe a bit of Folktek, but it was more vintage and simplistic in design - just a sold black block with white and silver controls. It was definitely designed as a work of art instrument vs. a synth. Similar in concept to the Buchla music Easel as I mentioned in the intro to this dream above. So after checking it out a little and talking to the owner I realized I should take a video of it for the site! I got the OK to film it, pulled out my iPhone, and started trying to capture some of the controls and timbres it was capable of. When I got to that formant female slider it was gone! I couldn't remember what I did to get that sound and I couldn't find the control again. Damn dreams.... And as in many real world sessions I wasn't getting those rich timbres again. I got lost between timbres! I thought my readers would be disappointed in my programming chops for a split second, but then I reminded myself anyone into programming synths will understand and not care, so I kept tweaking. Well, right then, a foster kid boarding at the school distracted me and started talking to me. I hand gestured to him (no I did not flick him off) to hold off for a second because I was in the middle of filming the synth and trying to capture audio. He understood for like five seconds and started talking again. I asked him to give me a sec but he got upset and said I should be there more for people. I felt bad and wasn't getting anywhere with the instrument at that point, so I stopped filming to talk to him before he left.
And that was it! Everything felt right with the kid so that was good, but that instrument! It's gone forever...
"This is an excerpt from a collaboration between jazz legend and trumpet wizard Wadada Leo Smith and electronic music master Barry Schrader. Pacific Light and Water/Wu Xing - Cycle of Destruction is what Smith refers to as an 'overlay' composition, combining works by two composers. Schrader created a graphic score, available from Theodore Front Music, for live performers to follow and coordinate with the electronic music of Wu Xing."
See this post for details on the release, including a link to an interview with Barry Schrader.
Barry Schrader has a new release with Wadada Leo Smith. Barry tells me there will be a CD version limited to 100 copies, 40 of which will be available through CD Baby starting January 15. There will also be an mp3 version available. Be sure to check out my interview with Barry Schrader here. There's some fascinating synth history to be discovered there.
Barry Schrader on the new release:
"In early 2005, I was approached by the remarkable composer/ performer Wadada Leo Smith to create what he calls an 'overlay' work. This is a work in which Wadada creates a composed/ improvisational performance on the trumpet against a fixed electronic piece that I had made. This overlay concept allowed each of us to create a work simultaneously, and then Wadada would perform his work over mine, allowing the fixed structure of my piece to influence his performance. Wadada's side of this unusual duet was Pacific Light and Water, and we had a discussion early on in the process about what we would do, in which Wadada gave me a drawing he made depicting the various frequencies of light that would filter through the Pacific ocean at different depths. My mind was filled with things Chinese at that moment from all of the research and work I had been doing on my work Monkey King, which I had already started composing, and so the water idea led to using the Chinese concept of "wu xing", of which water is one of the five elements (metal, wood, earth, water, fire). These are usually ordered in one of two ways: the cycle of birth, which ends with water, and the cycle of destruction, which ends with fire. I chose the latter for this piece, and, at Wadada’s request, created a graphic score (available from Theodore Front Music) to allow him to coordinate with the electronic music. This, then, is a rare combination of compositional approaches and means, blended into a unified whole."
The final two questions in my interview with Barry Schrader are now live. Barry discusses what may be his magnum opus, The Barnum Museum, followed by his take on the current state of synthesizers. There are some tie ins to his previous work on Atlantis as well as Louis and Bebe Barron.
"If someone were to ask me what I considered to be my best work, there’s no question in my mind that I would respond that it’s The Barnum Museum. Taken as a whole, this is my longest and most ambitious composition, and one that took me four years to compose. At this time, it remains my last completed work.
The idea for The Barnum Museum came from a short story by one of my favorite living authors, Steven Millhauser. Millhauser is a unique writer, and, so, difficult to classify. He’s been compared to such authors as Calvino and Borges, as well as other writers classified as “magical realists,” but I think he’s in a class by himself. The Barnum Museum is a short story in a collection with the same title. I was fortunate to get permission from Millhauser and his agents to base the work on his story. I was especially lucky that Millhauser agreed to a years-long email correspondence about the work: I would send each movement to him as I finished it and he would comment on the work and my ideas behind it. This was invaluable help in my completing the piece.
P. T. Barnum established two museums in New York City in the nineteenth century. Barnum's American Museum was on the corner of Broadway and Ann Street from January 1, 1842 to July 13, 1865 when it burned to the ground. Barnum built a second museum soon after, but it was also destroyed by fire in 1868. The attractions made the venue a combination of a zoo, museum, lecture hall, wax museum, theatre, and freak show. At its peak, the museum was open fifteen hours a day and had as many as fifteen thousand visitors daily."
Galaxy of Terror Published on May 5, 2017 Pure Destructive Records
Barry Schrader composed the soundtrack for Galaxy of Terror entirely on a Buchla 200. The film was re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray back in 2010. You can read an excerpt from Barry here. You can also read about it in my interview with Barry here (scroll down to get to the section on Galaxy of Terror).
"Pure Destructive Records is proud to announce, for the first time ever, in any format..Galaxy of Terror original soundtrack!.
There will be two variants pressed. 150 orange/red swirl and 150 black. Both will be pressed on 180 gm vinyl
Tracklist :
1. Main Titles and Death of the Remus Crewman; in the Master's Study
2. Quuhod's Death
3. Damia's Death
4. Exploration Music; Discovery of the Spaceship Remus
5. Alluma's Death
6. The Cathedral Chamber; Magic Stairway to the Inner Chamber
7. Monsters of the Red World
8. Discovery and Exploration of the Pyramid
9. The Commander's Death
10. Baalon's Death.
More tracks may be added.
Over the past few weeks, P.D.R has been working directly with the composer of the score..Barry Schrader. With Barry's knowledge and help, this project is now becoming a reality!
Galaxy of Terror is a 1981 Roger Corman Sci Fi, staring a very young Robert Englund and Sid Haid.
Roger Corman has started the careers of many prominent Hollywood people with his films. Galaxy of Terror was one of the earliest films for director James Cameron, who served as Production Designer and Second Unit Director on the film. It was the second Corman film on which Cameron worked as a crewman
Dedicated to the memory of
ERIN MORAN
who played "Alluma" in the movie. *"
Update: Official trailer for the original film added below.
Published on May 13, 2013 ScreamFactoryTV
"When a team of astronauts land on a strange planet to rescue a stranded space ship, they are soon attacked by alien creatures - physical manifestations of fears projected by their own imaginations. This cult classic from legendary producer Roger Corman features Robert Englund, Sid Haig, Taaffe O'Connell and Grace Zabriskie and featured the production design of James Cameron.
Click here for the next installment of my interview with Barry Schrader. This one covers Monkey King (2005-2007), featuring the Yamaha TX816 and several computer applications, particularly FM8. As I'm finding with all of Barry Schrader's compositions, this one has a great story to go along with it. Once there, it is recommended that you start each video before reading each corresponding section. You can then read along as each part plays.
Also remember to scroll up for previous sections of the overall interview once there, if you haven't read them already, or come back to this post and click here to get to the top. There some incredible bits of synth history here. It's not often we get to follow the story of an artist that was not only there at the birth of it all, but one who continues to embrace new synthesis technology with a focus on making music, throughout the years. Don't miss this. Bookmark it for later if you have to.
Another fascinating bit of synth history. Don't miss the UVI demos below. This is the first time the WaveFrame AudioFrame has been featured on the site. There was a controller for one featured here, and it was used by Barry Schrader and mentioned in my interview with him here and one previous post here.
This one was sent my way via swissdoc: "I just scanned my mega-sized German flyer from 1988/1989 of the WaveFrame Corporation AudioFrame. It is 600x600 dpi an weights in as about 32 megs. You can find it here [or check out the images of the complete pdf in this post - click each to zoom in].
It is similar to Fairlight or Synclavier and was kind of the first DAW. The system is still supported by http://www.waveframe.com
"Back in the 80's the WaveFrame Audioframe was the second generation of mega samplers, in line with the NED Synclavier and Fairlight CMI. A complete 48-voice system would sell for over $100,000, and at the time the feature set was worth it! The Audioframe was used by renowned artists like Peter Gabriel and Stevie Wonder and by leading sound designers and foley artists.
The UVI WaveFrame Sound Collection isn't a massive library dredged with tens of gigabytes of super high resolution wave files - conversely, it's a lean and mean library expertly crafted after the original, weighing in at just over 350 MB.
As you can hear in the demos, size isn't a factor for this library. The collection contains a multitude of very useful and organic sounds such as keyboards, guitars, basses, solo strings, string sections, upper brass, lower brass, brass sections, woodwinds, synths, pacific rim, percussion, drums, effects and test tones.
WaveFrame Sound Collection brings you an excellent library of bread and butter sounds that preserve the character and history of this milestone in music tech history."
The following is an interview with Peter Grenader of Electro-Acoustic Research (formally Plan b). The focus of the interview is mainly on his involvement with The ZZYZX Society, however you will find plenty of insight into gear, including some of what Peter is working on next. I want to give Peter a huge thanks for taking the time out for this.
1. To start, what is the ZZYZX Society?
"The zZyzx Society is a group of like-minded half-crazy avant-garde musicians/composers who at one time or another fell down the same sonic rabbit hole.
Discussions about this began in 2011. Jill Fraser and I tried to get something together, and the circle of people then included Richard Lainhart. Unfortunately, he passed away when we were right in the middle of talking about possibilities. This is actually when I sketched out one of my two pieces that we are currently performing: Organasm. It settled down until Jill and I ran into one another at Mort Subotnick's live performance at Redcat a couple of years ago. We saw a fire in each other's eyes - a need to return to something that we had both evolved from.
Jill and I are ancient friends. We met at CalArts in - God.... 1977. We actually performed together once with composer Gordon Mumma at CalArts and worked extensively together on Mort Subotnick's NEA project, The Game Room, in 1978. Matter of fact, the photo Mort used for the Electronic Works Vol. 1 was taken when we were doing The Game Room - Jill is the blonde and I'm the guy holding the patchord in the foreground.
What really set the wheels in motion though was a recent dinner we had for Thighpaulsandra when he visited Los Angeles a few months ago. Thigh had been speaking about wanting to do another series of performances together since we both did the AnalogLive gig at Redcat in 2007. Jill was already well into the planning stages, although it wasn't clear who would be involved at that time though oddly enough - everyone who will be was there - Jill, Chas Smith, Thighpaulsandra and myself. When Thigh left for his return trip home - the last thing he said to me was a suggestion to get some gigs going - that it will never start unless there's a date, and when you guys get a set under your belt and are comfortable with what it evolves into, that he would come out and gig with us - and that's exactly what we are doing. Well, we'e actually focusing on tracking a CD, but I'll get into that more in a bit."
2. Can you give us a little background on each member? When the world of electronic music started for each and what they've done over the years?
That's where humility sets in - with the notion that musicians of this caliber would consider me a contributor. Why? Let's start with Jill: after earning her masters in composition at CalArts studying with Mort Subotnick and Mel Powell - her first stop was where I landed: Serge's infamous Hollywood synth production facility on Western Ave. She didn't stay there long, however, because she was hired to compose electronic music by Jack Nitzsche for Paul Schrader's film, Hardcore. This began a 25 year career composing both electronic and acoustic scores for hundreds of TV commercials for huge national campaigns: BMW, Honda, Porsche, Nissan, Mitsubishi, HP, NBC, KFC, Carl's Jr., and Apple among others, and in the process won 3 Clios. She also toured with Buffy St. Marie and auditioned for The Sex Pistols - no joke.
Chas will be the only one among us who people will be speaking about in 100 years. He's also from the CalArts electronic music composition master's program and spent his early days with modulars. Until recently he owned a 12 panel serge system he had had for 30+. His legacy will be the remarkable Harry Partch-esque tuned percussion instruments he crafts. He's shifted to metals exclusively which forge these amazing soundscapes, which would take immense work to generate electronically, yet just pour out of these sculptures. Along with collaborations with Harold Budd he's been released many times as a solo artist on Cold Blue Records, MCA, and others, music for Zimmer's Man of Steal score (they actually did a special feature on Chas for that film), as well as the first two Saw films with Charlie Clouser, for Shawshank Redemption, The Horse Whispser... the list goes on.
Man Of Steel Soundtrack - Sculptural Percussion - Hans Zimmer Published on Aug 27, 2013 WaterTower Music
Not sure what planet you'd need to be on not to know where Thighaulsandra's been. Like the rest of us here, his interest in electronic music is lifelong. Stockhausen and Cage were early influences and while you clearly realize his worth in the rock idiom, his experimental roots are unavoidable. Golden Communion - which has garnered stunning reviews in Europe - gives both Gabriel and NIN a run for their money, but you also hear Stockhausen in there and in the string introduction to the title track - Elliot Carter. He began his music career on the other side of the board - as a studio engineer, and this is where he met Julian Cope, who in time introduced him to John Balance - which led to 10 very productive years as a member of Coil - during which TPS began releasing his own solo work. He is a conservatory trained pianist blessed with the birth defect of incredible ability. After Coil he was off to Spritualized for I think three years?
As for me, I am the underachiever. After CalArts and a few small film scores, and a oddly enough a planetarium show for the Griffith Observatory, I put everything down for 25 years. In the early 2000's I found music again and had really good success in the academic electronic music festival circuit. I won the Periodic Festival in Barcelona and was selected for one of the evening performances at the SEAMUS National Conference, which doesn't sound like much, but I was probably the single first-time applicant to land that right. There were 30 or so festivals in the US after that over the next two years including the AnalogLive emsemble performance at Redcat at the Disney Hall in LA with Thighpaulsandra, Chas, Gary Chang, Richard Devine and Alessandro Cortini. The start of Plan B shifted my center to manufacturing, although I was signed, and did a CD for Coda Recordings in 2013 entitled Secret Life.
What I appreciate, especially working with Jill, but it's true of all these guys... our combined experience is such that we finish each other's musical sentences. It's astonishing. Three guys in a garage band and you expect them to vamp off their combined rock tradition, right? But electronic music, are you kidding me? Jill and I started rehearsing with a piece of mine called Benghazi, which is based entirely on a single diatribe of Glenn Beck whining about the attack in Libya. The first day we did what I would call informed noodling. When we started the second day she said she had worked out some other processed bits, and they were phenomenal. It brought the concept into much higher space and with no direct guidance outside of asking for other samples from the source file so not to loose Beck's context narrative. She just got it, completely.
zZyzx Society live in Joshua Tree: BENGHAZI
3. What sort of gear will each member bring to the project? Is there a preference for any?
I can't say for Thigh, dunno yet but he's got an arsenal at his studio in Wales. Jill is primarily using a Push via Ableton and a single Serge panel designed specifically for live performance made for her by Dmitri Sfc. I can name what Chas uses, but it won't mean much as outside of a rack of loopers everything he plays he's made. So for the record it's the Rite, the Replicant and his incredible steel guitar Guitarzilla. I am primarily using my modular - eight rows of it I crammed into two road cases, and then a Roli keyboard using Equator for now, and plans for a proper sampler as the ROli software wreaks Kickstarter deadline. It's fine as a closed synth, but while they say you can import your own samples - you really can't. I had to contact them, and they wrote the code so I could add one specific sample, but are not wiling to help me do more. The keyboard itself however is incredible.
4. What is the collaboration and recording process like? Do you record together or do you pass compositions back and forth for each person to work with separately?
Recording wasn't in the original plan, but that's changed and with Chas moving to Grass Valley - and Thighpaulsandra in Wales it's just like my FB relationship status: complicated. Jill and I are going to lay basic tracks starting in two weeks. So we'll be sending multitrack to both Chas and Thigh, who will be adding to them, then returning the new stack to whomever wrote the piece to do the final mix. The process is identical for Chas and Thighpaulsandra with their works There is talk of a release deal. So... with only one gig under our belts at FUTUREWURLD in Joshua Tree, which was really well received , but still...now we're shifting to recording the four pieces we performed with small gigs during that process, although, all in much more detail than we could manifest live with our hand count. Jill's got one which is actually four individual pieces, I've got Benghazi and Organasm and Chas has Perimeter. Thighpaulsandra is in the middle of one for us now and we're discussing the possibility of rendering Subotnick's Sidewinder.
5. What do you have in your modular system when playing with ZZYZX Society?
At first I brought almost everything. I could basically empty my main cabinet into the two road cases and on top of that I brought the two side cases, but I knew this wouldn't last. After a couple of days of rehearsal when we worked on the two pieces that were modular extensive I identified what was overkill and I limited my modular system to the two road cases (see image). It's eight rows of 88hp.
In the empty space I've now installed an Animodule Midi Gate, which is a brilliant idea and one I was planning on for EAR - but the best man won on that, more power to them for that. With it in that space will be two custom modules consisting of two Sparkfun Wave Trigger boards and a little unity gain mixer. Each of the Wave Triggers will be driven by the Midi Gate. I can use individual keys on my Roli to fire of independent events. Each of these WAVE modules allow for eight polyphonic samples to be played by either the depression of a momentary switch or a gate signal with each group of eight stored on a microSD card which can be loaded on the fly. I see this as an intelligent way of performing with a modular in a live scenario. It's basically what Mort is doing now - assembling the overall sonic contour by playing prerecorded samples as required with a couple of live voices over everything. Very effective and something Mort has been talking since the days I was working with him. It took 30 years for technology to catch up with him. In my instance, I will be playing events I prerecorded on the modular.
6. Does working on music like the ZZYZX Society influence your designs, or do you keep the two worlds separate?
It's had a huge impact on this. Immediately I started thinking about a group of modules called "the live set" which would be a series of devices which would make live performance easier for a modular artist. I don't want to give anything away outside of saying the guy that developed the Wave Trigger for Sparkfun lives a few blocks from me (wink). I've also had a couple of meetings with Vince De Franco, who produces the Mandela Electric Drums whom I met through Danny Carey. If what we're discussing becomes a finished product, it will be a paradigm shift for realization of live electronic music.
7. What's next for you? You were the man behind Plan B, your designs were featured in Subconscious Communications' modules, and you are back with Electro-Acoustic Research. You recently announced the Model 41 Steiner 4P filter. Do you plan to bring back any older designs like the Milton or will you be focusing on new designs only?
The EAR modules will be a combination of new things and legacy re-releases, but none of the old ones will be brought to market now without significant improvements. Not because they were broken before, but because I see no reason to revisit something without making changes. If you go to ear-synth.com the next product up is the Model 12 Mark II. It's two M12's in one package, both fitted with the IFM Sync function found on the M41. There are all manners of interconnection possibilities as well, so that two two can be used independently, or in either serial or parallel operation off all output taps of a single signal. If you sweep to the 'Future' page there's also the Model 24 Heisenberg Mark II, which adds a new quantized output to the stepped random and three new inter-modulation/triggering options. The Model 10 Mark II could not be more different than the original. Now two voltage controllable DASR envelope generators (Delay, Attack, Sustain TIME and Release). I have also mapped out a concept for an upgraded Model 15 Complex VCO which will make it the VERY Complex VCO lol. There are as well three new modules all ready to go.
I have been working on the relaunch for four years - since cEvin and I did the Subcon license on the 15 and 37. I've been working towards it continually. The first three products are completely done with a couple of revisions of hand built SMT prototypes behind them - ready to go - I just need to email the data off to Darkplace when it's time and product will appear a couple of months after that. If you watch Thighpaulsandra's excellent Model 41 demo video - next to the M41 you will see the Model 12 Mark II mounted in his system and that's one thing I did differently this time - I skipped the breadboard stage. I now go directly to SMT PCBs with Metalphoto faceplates. This addresses all sorts of potential calamities. It forces me to concentrate on the design stage and weeds out all manufacturing hiccups before they hit the Darkplace assembly line because if there are problems there - they aren't going to pay for that - I am. As my dad used to say when he was quoting new jobs.... "I don't do this for practice".
This brings me to something I want to close on. My father went through the Plan B collapse with me. He knew how hard I had worked to get where I did and he knew all too well what I forfeited. He was a tough love guy and at times unnecessarily hard on me about it. But in the end, I did it and he knew before he passed away. I was ready for the Model 41 a year and a half ago. Darkplace had already quoted it. It could have launched then and would have had he not died. There were delays from his death that the family needed to settle. But as far dad... I built most of the prototypes on his kitchen table because the light was so much better there than on my bench at home. He saw me working on them. He saw the Darkplace quotes. The last thing he said to me was 'I love you'. Right before that - he congratulated me on getting the company back on it's feet and that I found a way to do it all on my own, and he told me how proud he was of me. After he said this, I left the hospital for the day and he died that evening at 3 in the morning. Nothing was worth the six years I went through and the problems I caused people, nothing makes my father's death bearable - but that moment came real. real close.
Click here for the next installment of my interview with Barry Schrader. As you can probably guess from the image on the life, this one, like all of the interview questions to date, has a great story behind it. :)
Click here for the next installment of my interview with Barry Schrader. This one covers his Lost Atlantis composed in 1977 on a large Buchla 200 system featuring the 204 Quad Spatial Director, and the Fortune modules featured earlier in the interview.
6. How did technology over the years impact your music and creative process? Can you walk us through your albums and what the general process was like for each?
You'll find Barry's answer here. You do not want to miss this. Not only will you hear one of CalArts Buchla 200 systems in 1976, but you'll get some insight into the thought process behind the piece "Trinity".
"In exploring my compositions, I think it’s best to take a few works and deal with them one at a time. The first one I’ll consider is Trinity composed in 1976 using one of CalArts Buchla 200 systems. Beginning with Trinity, all of my pieces done using the Buchla 200 used the same basic patch" [pictured left]
5. Who came through the studio in the later years at CalArts? Were there any notable experiences that you remember?
You'll find the answer in the main interview post with Barry Schrader here. You'll find some fascinating history there including the early Buchla systems at Cal Arts studios B303, B304, B305 and B308, as well as the transition of the studios in the 1980s. You'll find experts of Barry Schrader's music, including the full film of Galaxy of Terror which featured a score composed by Barry on the Buchla 200.
This is just a quick a reminder that Barry Schrader's CalArts Farewell Concert is this Saturday in Valencia, CA. You can find the previous post with details on the event here. Remember you can also listen in online.
I’ve chosen to call this album Lost Analog not only with reference to my previous release, Lost Atlantis, but also because all of the works are analog electronic music, and parts of them are, indeed, lost. All of this music was created from 1972 through 1983, using the Buchla 200 analog modular synthesizer, also known as “The Electronic Music Box.” The music contained in this Lost Analog album was originally created in 4 channels, sometimes referred to as quadraphonic sound. In mixing and remastering these pieces as stereo files, some of the original aural intent has unavoidably been lost, another reason for calling this release Lost Analog. As I write this, realizing that some of this music hasn’t been heard in public for almost fifty years, I’m taken back to much earlier days in my life and career, which, although remembered, are also lost, as are all of our pasts.
